The Commander and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 3)

by Sloane Meyers

  “Amplificare terminantur,” Mac said, ending the amplifying spell on her voice. She had spotted Raven down below, and wanted to go talk to her. Mac wanted to take some hostages alive for questioning, and they needed to act quickly if they were going to do so. The enemy forces were retreating rapidly now.

  Mac turned her broomstick downward, holding tightly to the handle as she prepared to fly downward. But just as she started to gain momentum, she heard a sickening crack, followed by a burst of evil laughter. Mac had not seen the burly enemy wizard sneaking through the air toward her. She had let down her guard as she mused about taking hostages. That had been an almost fatal mistake.

  For the next several seconds, everything seemed to move in slow motion. The enemy’s deadly laser beam had, thankfully, missed hitting her by a few inches. In a stroke of luck, she had turned to fly downward at the exact moment the enemy wizard had attempted his sneak attack. Thanks to her sudden and unexpected shift in direction, the laser had struck the back of her broomstick instead of her. She had escaped instant death because of this, but she was not safe yet.

  The force of the laser sent her broomstick hurtling backwards, and a giant crack had formed in the handle of the broom. Worse, the laser beam had interfered with the flying spell on her broom. Mac had been holding on tightly to her broomstick since she had been preparing to fly downward. Otherwise, she would have been knocked clean off of it by the blow. But it didn’t matter much that she had managed to hold on, because her broom was no longer flying. Mac was hurtling downward through the air now, clinging to a broken broomstick that no longer held a flying spell on it.

  “Magicae sarcio!” Mac yelled, trying to aim her magic ring at the crack in the broomstick to repair it. But it was nearly impossible to aim and perform the repairing spell correctly while flopping around through the air. She felt fear gripping her heart, but she forced it down and told herself to focus. If she panicked now, she would be dead for sure. She had to repair the broomstick and recast the flying spell before she hit the ground and met a thunderous, splattering death.

  “Magicae sarcio! Magicae sarcio!” Mac tried over and over, but it was impossible to bring any semblance of control to her movements up here. She had been thousands of feet in the air, which had given her some time. But now she could see the ground moving closer and closer. Soon, she would be falling through what was left of the aerial forces. Perhaps she could manage to grab onto someone else’s broomstick as she fell. If she got one of her wizard’s brooms, that would be best. But even if she only grabbed an enemy’s broom, and had to fight him or her for it, that would be better than flopping around wildly and trying unsuccessfully to fix her own splintered broomstick. Mac tried to turn herself so that she could see below her better, but the force of the wind against her body as she fell made it hard to control her movements.

  “Don’t panic, don’t panic,” she told herself, even though she could feel panic rising in her chest. And then, suddenly, her downward motion came to a halt with a mighty thud. She had landed squarely on a dragon’s back. The dragon turned to look at her, his concerned eyes searching to see if she was okay. It was Zeke, and Mac knew in that moment that it had not been a coincidence that she had fallen onto him. He had flown over to save her, and he had been successful. He let out a puff of smoke and a low growl, and Mac understood. He wanted her to tell him that she was alright. Was she?

  Mac took a quick inventory of her body. She was fine. The laser beam had missed her entirely, and, falling through the air, while terrifying, had not been physically harmful. Mac looked back at Zeke, her eyes wet with tears at the realization that he had just saved her life yet again.

  “Thank you. I’m okay,” she mouthed, unable to make herself speak for the moment. Then, she regained her wits. Where was that bastard that had knocked her off her broom? He was going to pay. Mac looked up, and saw him high, high above them. He had been watching her fall, no doubt laughing and delighting in her impending doom. It was fully dark now, but the moon was brilliant tonight, and Mac could clearly see him, flying in small circles and no doubt angered by the way she had been picked out of the sky by one of the dragons.

  “Zeke, just hold steady for a moment. I need to fix my broom!” Mac yelled. Zeke nodded his giant dragon head, and flapped his wings gently to hold her steadily in the air. Mac pointed her magic ring directly at the splintered portion of her broomstick.

  “Magicae sarcio,” Mac yelled. The broomstick instantly snapped back together, looking good as new thanks to the powerful repairing spell. Mac picked it up and examined it carefully to make sure that there was no remaining damage, and saw happily that there was not. Once she cast a new flying spell over it, the broomstick should fly just as well as before.

  “Magicae volant,” Mac yelled as she pointed her ringed finger at the broomstick again. Instantly, the broomstick began to buzz with energy, and Mac knew the flying spell was taking effect. She hopped onto the broom, and did a few turns in midair right above Zeke, just to make sure that it was truly working. Satisfied that it was, she nodded to Zeke, and then turned the broomstick upward.

  With lightning speed, she tore away from Zeke, flying upward to where the wizard who had nearly killed her was still hovering. He had been watching her, and when he saw her coming toward him on her newly repaired broom, he turned and started to flee.

  “Coward!” Mac yelled, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She leaned down against her broomstick, making herself as aerodynamic as possible. The enemy wizard dove downward, perhaps thinking that there would be more safety if he returned to where the fighting was and had some of his fellow soldiers to help him. But the battle was nearly over now. Here and there, a few skirmishes were still taking place, but for the most part, the din of fighting had ceased. Mac frowned as she realized that she’d never had the chance to go tell Raven that she wanted some of the enemy soldiers kept alive for questioning. That had been the fault of this cowardly wizard, who had knocked her off her broom.

  “No matter,” Mac said to herself through gritted teeth. “Since he kept me from telling Raven I wanted hostages, he’ll get to be the hostage.”

  Mac had nearly caught up with the enemy wizard now. He was flying low and fast, but she could tell he was not an overly skilled flyer. He overcorrected his flight pattern whenever there was an obstacle in the way. This haphazard flying had slowed him down considerably, and Mac could have easily taken him out with a well-aimed laser beam shot from her magic ring.

  But if she shot him down, he would likely die, which of course would make it impossible to question him. No, she had to figure out how to bring him to a stop without killing him. Mac furrowed her brow in concentration, trying to decide what to do. Then she had an idea that she thought would work well.

  She leaned forward on her broomstick, pushing it to its maximum speed. Because she was much more skilled at zooming around obstacles than the enemy wizard was, she was able to easily overtake him. As soon as she passed him, she came to a sharp stop and swung around one hundred and eighty degrees so that she was facing him. His eyes filled with terror when he saw her—he had been so intent on dodging the stationary objects in front of him that he had not even noticed that she’d passed him. He came to a screeching halt and tried to switch directions to get away from her, but he didn’t get very far.

  As soon as his speed was slow enough that Mac knew a fall wouldn’t kill him, she aimed an attacking spell at his broomstick. His broomstick cracked loudly, and he screamed as he started falling toward the ground. He was about twenty feet above a large row of bushes, and he came crashing down directly onto it, yelping in pain as he hit the stiff branches with quite a bit of force.

  “Magicae obstupefio,” Mac yelled, pointing her ring directly at him. The stunning spell rendered him motionless from his neck down. He cursed Mac and then started yelling for help, but there was no one left to help him. The last remaining enemy soldiers were fleeing the city now, with Falcon Cross soldiers in hot pursuit.
Mac pointed her broomstick down toward the stunned man and flew down to land beside him with a gentle thud.

  “You picked the wrong wizard to mess with,” Mac said, stepping off her broomstick. “You’re going to pay dearly for knocking me off my broom.”

  The man said nothing, but looked at her with eyes full of rage. It didn’t matter how angry he was, though. He had lost in his little race against Mac, and his fellow soldiers had lost the battle against Falcon Cross. He had no one to help him, and Mac had already seen what a coward he was. She had a feeling it wouldn’t take too much pressure to get him talking. She felt a rush of hope and excitement. Perhaps he could even be persuaded to tell them who this mysterious enemy they were fighting against actually was.

  Mac looked up then to find Raven, but she didn’t have to look far. Raven had already spotted Mac, and was just coming in for a landing a few feet behind Mac.

  “We’ve won again,” Raven said, her voice breathless and excited. “The enemy forces are completely gone or dead. Well, except for this one you’ve got right here, I suppose. But we did it again, Mac! We beat back the enemy even though his forces are much larger than ours. Can you believe it?”

  Raven let out a whoop, and before Mac could even answer her, the dragons were also coming in for a landing beside her. Large bursts of energy rang out as they all shifted back into human form. They were all starkly naked, since their clothes had been ruined when they shifted into dragon form. Mac merely averted her eyes from the lower halves of the bodies, but Raven giggled and then coughed uncomfortably.

  “Oh, grow up, Raven,” Mac said, then pointed her magic ring toward each of the dragon shifters in turn. “Magicae obscuro. Magicae obscuro. Magicae obscuro. Magicae obscuro.”

  The lower halves of Noah’s, Owen’s, Myles’ and Zeke’s bodies were instantly shrouded in a thick, obscuring cloud so that their nakedness was not visible.

  “Happy?” Mac asked, looking at Raven. Raven turned bright red, but Owen, who apparently thought his new “cloud cover” was hilarious, threw back his head and laughed. The other dragons, however, seemed more interested in the enemy wizard, who was still lying on the bushes, unable to move.

  “You’re planning to question him?” Noah asked

  Mac nodded in confirmation, and the enemy wizard cursed again.

  “You won’t get any information out of me!” he said, his voice filled with contempt. But no one was impressed by his declaration.

  “We’ll see about that,” Myles said, stepping over and yanking the man off the bushes and throwing him over his shoulder like a lumpy sack of potatoes. “Where do you want him, Mac?”

  “We have some prison cells inside of Military Headquarters,” Mac said. “One of the wizards guarding headquarters can show you where they are.”

  “Owen and I will go with you,” Noah said. “Zeke, I suppose you’ll want to stay with Mac to get a debrief on the battle.”

  Zeke nodded. “I think we’ll need to update the High Council, too, right?”

  Mac nodded wearily. As the adrenaline from the battle faded, she was beginning to feel exhausted. But there was still much to be done tonight.

  “Come on, Raven,” Mac said. “Come with Zeke and me. We’ll need your insights on the battle to properly update the High Council. They’ll be pleased that we managed to take a prisoner. I’m sure they’ll want to start interrogating him right away tomorrow. The sooner we can identify our enemy, the sooner we might have a chance at actually ending this ridiculous war.”

  Raven nodded, and fell into step behind Mac and Zeke, while the other dragon shifters started heading for military headquarters with the prisoner. Even though they were in plain view of Raven, Zeke reached for Mac’s hand and squeezed it, then held on tightly. Mac looked up at him and smiled. Perhaps progress was slow, but progress was indeed being made. Together, they were beating back the enemy. There was no one Mac would rather have by her side for this fight.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The rest of the night was a blur for Mac, but a relatively happy one. She was shocked in the best way possible when she learned that there had been no new fatalities in Falcon Cross. There were some critical injuries, but everyone was expected to pull through and make a full recovery. The enemy, of course, had not been so lucky. Once again, the Falcon Cross army had handed their evil opponents a resounding defeat. And, although no one could be sure what the future held, all of the High Council members agreed that their enemy was likely to hold off for some time before attacking again. He would, undoubtedly, want plenty of time to recover and to build up an army that actually had skill in flying. This meant that the Falcon Cross army would have some breathing room to build up their own flying skills, and to perfect the town’s defenses.

  Peter, the lead High Councilor, was troubled by the fact that the shield around the town had been broken through so quickly. He’d said that only wizards trained in dark magic would have been able to break through a shield that quickly, which confirmed his suspicion that whoever their enemy was, he was practicing dark magic. This did not bode well for the future, and Peter said that they would need to post extra guards all around the Falcon Cross borders. Peter was pleased that a prisoner had been taken, too. All of the High Council agreed that they needed to find out what kind of enemy they were dealing with as soon as possible, if they wanted to survive. The last few battles had turned out well, but there was an ominous feeling in the air. These relatively easy times would not last forever.

  But for the moment, at least, Falcon Cross was safe. Mac had gone home happy with that knowledge. Zeke had come home with her, and she had been glad for his comforting presence after the stressful battle. He’d gone with her to the training fields to pick up her bag and her new scarf, which had been left behind in a hurry when the fighting started. Mac had smiled ruefully as they gathered up her things.

  “Seems like every time we kiss, another attack comes,” Mac teased. “Maybe I should stay away from you.”

  Zeke had grinned at her, and pulled her into his arms for an extra big kiss. “Don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily,” he’d said.

  By the time they got home, it was nearly three in the morning, and Mac had been exhausted and starving. Zeke had poured them both huge bowls of cereal, and after eating their fill they had gone to bed together, instantly falling asleep in each other’s arms.

  Mac awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee. Zeke’s side of the bed was empty, but she could hear him whistling from down the hallway. A smile played across Mac’s face as the events of the night before came rushing back to her. Falcon Cross had seen another victory, and her sexy dragon shifter was here with her, in her home. For the first time in several weeks, Mac felt at peace. She still had a lot of work to do today, of course. But she didn’t feel as frenzied as she had for the last several weeks. She felt calm, and hopeful. Surely, with time on their side—and a prisoner to interrogate, big breakthroughs were ahead.

  Mac sat up and was about to head to the kitchen, but she stopped when she heard the sound of Zeke’s footsteps coming down the hallway. He appeared in the bedroom’s doorway moments later, a steaming hot mug of coffee in his hand.

  “Hey,” he said softly, crossing the room and sitting on the edge of the bed next to her, then handing her the coffee mug. “I came to see if you were awake yet, and to bring you coffee. I thought I heard stirring in here.”

  Mac took the coffee mug gratefully and took a long sip. “You heard me stirring?” she asked, somewhat incredulous. “How? I’ve barely moved.”

  Zeke grinned. “Dragon hearing. It’s quite exceptional. You’ll never be able to sneak up on me.”

  Mac groaned as he laughed, but she couldn’t keep a smile from turning up the corners of her lips. She loved discovering all the unique abilities that Zeke had, thanks to the fact that he was part dragon. She took another long sip from the coffee mug, and then set it down on her nightstand. A quick glance at her clock told her it was nearly nine-thirty. O
rdinarily, she would have panicked that she was in bed so late on a work day. But today, she felt she deserved the sleep. Besides, she’d gone to bed so late, and she didn’t have any meetings this morning.

  “Have you talked to anyone in the office today?” Mac asked. She was quite curious what the other dragon shifters were saying about the battle last night, and whether they agreed with Peter’s assessment that the enemy was unlikely to attack again anytime soon. Zeke seemed to know without her saying this out loud that that was what she really wanted to know.

  “I’ve talked to Noah,” Zeke said. “He agrees that the enemy will likely hold off on attacking again in the near future. But he warns that we should not use this as a reason to sit back and take a breather. There are dark forces at work here, and we need to do everything we can to figure out exactly what those forces are, and to be prepared. Noah is actually meeting with the heads of the Advocacy Bureau this morning to put together a special task force who will be researching dark magic and the most effective ways to combat it.

  Mac’s eyes widened. “Wow. That’s pretty serious. The Advocacy Bureau is infamous for staying away from research into dark magic. They believe that it’s best left alone, even for academic reasons.”

  Zeke nodded. “Noah told me that. But he said that the High Council has decided that, given the recent events, we need more wizards here who are skilled in defeating dark magic. In times of peace, it was alright to stay away from the subject. But now, we need to be prepared.”

  Mac nodded. “I’d have to say I agree.”

  “Of course, the other way we are hoping to combat our enemy is by talking to the prisoner we took yesterday. They’re holding him at Military Headquarters right now. They plan to begin interrogating him today, as soon as you arrive.